Just The Beginning
by KittyNakajimaX
Summary: Takes place a week after the events of SA2. Shadow survives, and aids a priestess in protecting a reincarnated spirit. Please read and review! I will be forever grateful to those who do. ^^;;
1. Default Chapter

SA2: A New Adventure

Author's Note: Characters of Shadow the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog, Amy Rose and everyone else from the Sega Sonic games are copyrighted to Sega and Sonic Team. I'm just using them in my story/fan-fiction series. So please, don't sue me because I'm a poor, unemployed bum who desperately needs money!! Also you can't use the characters of Aozora Kitty, DarkAozora Kitty, and any other character that isn't associated with Sega Sonic. Those are my own creations, and I'll be very pissed if someone uses them without my consent. Only thing would be that Aozora No Knife is the title of a song copyrighted by Avex Trax and Enix. So don't sue me please!

Farewell to A Shadow…?

   Sonic sadly watched as his former rival Shadow used up the last of his hyper form strength to return the ARK back into its original orbit. Making one last attempt to save him, the blue wonder stretched out a hand to try and reach him before he fell into the earth's atmosphere. But his efforts proved to be futile; Shadow lost his grip on his hand as he continued to fall, the only thing left for his trouble being the golden bracelet left from his glove. He was about to go after him when he realized that he was also running low on ring power that maintained his present form. With a heavy heart, he reluctantly returned to the space station.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~

   Meanwhile, inside the space colony, everyone, including Dr. Eggman, was rejoicing over the apparent victory over the Biolizard by Sonic and Shadow. Tails jumped out of his Cyclone walker and onto Knuckles' back screaming, 'They did it!! We did it!!" Little did he know that it was pissing Knuckles off. But not wanting to kill his fun, he let him continue. 

   Rouge, who saw all of this, was thinking to herself that the red echidna who had given her a bit of trouble with those emeralds had more to him that could been seen by the naked eye. "How cute", she said quietly. 'I see you've taken a liking to Knux' said someone to her side. Amy had heard the whole thing. Rouge blushed slightly. 'It's beyond your understanding' she said softly. "Does he know yet?" the rose hedgehog inquired in her squeaky tone of voice. Rouge was about to say 'Shut up before I throw you out in space!'  But Amy, who yelled over to Knuckles, cut her off. "Hey Knuckles, I know something you don't know!" 

   The crimson echidna took the two tailed fox off his back and in the direction of her voice. 'Sonic doesn't like you?' he smirked. Amy frowned at him. She hated it when Sonic and the others preferred not to take her seriously. Rouge, a bit relieved that her latest secret wasn't revealed, yelled back at him. 'Hey knucklehead! You shouldn't tease her like that!'  He took a few more steps in her direction but stopped when the lab door opened to reveal the lean figure of a now battered blue hedgehog…


	2. Project Aozora No Knife

Project Aozora No Knife

Log Week #72

_  My sweet Aozora is almost at maturity. Only a few more minor adjustments to be made upon her before we're able to release her from incarceration. If there was ever anything that I put my whole heart and soul into, it was into making this wonderful being. If only Dr. Gerald was able to witness this; he surely would have commended me for perfecting his calculations…even going beyond them. She far surpasses any of his theories for she is a combination of both ancient and modern ingenuity. _

_  But, as I've often wondered, have I accidentally created something that isn't meant to be? The legends of which the ancient manuscript is shrouded by contain massive destruction & even genocides of entire civilizations and ancient peoples. It could only make me wonder whether we as civilized beings are exceeding our limits. Limits that were put there as a safe fail. _

  Despite my doubts, I designed her with no safeguards. She has no limits… The road to perfection has no limits…

  …Her peaceful expression reminds me of one other in their sleep. Maria..

  Dr. Yatusmito looked up from his desk and gazed at the peaceful creature who lay in suspended animation. "Soon…" his mental voice trailed off. "Soon… you'll bring joy to this world". He heard someone begin to rapidly tap the glass of the animation chamber. The doctor's eyes angrily scanned the side of the chamber to find the instigator of the crime. "Yanai! Stop that at once!" he barked at his assistant. Dr. Mashuti (Yanai) did as she was told. "I was only performing a test on the subject, sir," she said meekly. The doctor's eyes flashed anger at her. "Not so hard!" he growled, once more gazing at the chamber. He noticed that the once peaceful look upon her face had somewhat turned into an irritated one. "You're bothering her with your tapping. I don't you disturbing her any further." He pointed Mashuti toward the direction of the exit before returning to his log entry.

  Maria…I miss you.


	3. I'm Still..Alive?

  Shadow woke up to find himself lying in a warm, soft bed. His body was somewhat in pain, but not as much as he had anticipated it to be. He didn't know what had happened to him until memories started to flood back into his mind. His promise to Maria, the fight with the BioLizard, and finally teaming up with Sonic to defeat it before it had a chance to land on Earth and destroy the planet. The last thing he could remember was the bright red flash accompanied with the feeling of going through an indefinite fall before landing on a lush green patch of earth. "I must have mastered the Chaos Control so completely that it's practically instinct", he thought. 

  Studying his new and unfamiliar surroundings, he realized that he was in a wooden cottage of some sort, which apparently was kept very tidy. He also noticed the array of flowers that decorated the room with both their appearance and fragrance. The black hedgehog was reaching over towards a red rose when a new yet friendly-looking face opened the door. 

  "I'm glad you're finally awake", said the stranger in her usual thoughtful tone. The warm aroma of something delicious struck the hedgehog with a hunger that he had not felt for a long time. The stranger smiled as she noticed how hungry her guest looked. "I thought you'd be hungry after sleeping in so long", she said while placing a platter on the table next to the bed. "But I want to check those wounds of yours first", pointing to the bandages around Shadow's torso. She almost jumped back in surprise when she noticed that they had healed completely. "No one can heal that fast in a week!" she gasped. Shadow looked down towards his undone bandages and remembered that using the Chaos Control had landed him in a really high part of a tree. His weight had broken the branch he had been standing on and he fell all the way down, getting scratched and bruised by leaves, more branches, and an occasional Charmy nest on the way.

  He looked up at her and gave his signature smile. "I'm a fast healer", he said softly. "But…but it doesn't make sense. Even with my special herbs, you couldn't have healed so quickly", she stuttered back. She then proceeded to touch the fur where the wounds had once been present, only to have a dry hand instead. "Don't worry about it now", Shadow said reassuringly. "I'm just a really fast healer. Let's just leave it at that." He then realized that he hadn't properly acquainted himself to this kind stranger. "I didn't even ask you what your name was when you first walked in. Mine is…Shadow."

  The stranger, a tan brown hedgehog who had green highlights on her quills, perked up. "My name is Sara. And you're welcome. The first and last thing you said to me was 'Thank you'."


	4. Rouge and Knuckles

  Rouge was staring up toward the remnants of the moon. She had aided Shadow and Eggman in their 'demonstration' of the power potential for the Eclipse Cannon, which was only just a trap into luring the Chaos Emeralds to reawaken the Biolizard. But that seemed so long ago, even though only a week had passed since the whole adventure. 

  She wasn't particularly proud of the fact that taking those three emeralds from Prison Island's Security Hall had contributed to causing such a disaster. Or the fact that it had helped release that…creature from its slumber aboard the ARK. Usually her small cravings for jewels hadn't caused any real harm until now. She returned to reality after hearing another firework explode in the starry blue sky. The village on the land below the floating Angel Island was having a celebration in honor of Sonic's latest victory for the world. Much to everyone's surprise, Knuckles had invited her to stay with him for a while on the floating island while offering to help her learn some more self-control. 

  "It was Shadow's victory too…" she trailed off sadly. "Of course it is." She turned around to see the crimson echidna behind her. He sat beside her on the rock she was seated on. "Still blaming yourself for unleashing the Biolizard?" he inquired. Rouge looked away from him. "Of course I do! If I had gotten into more detail with my intelligence reports, then maybe, just maybe…" "Shadow would be here?" he asked. "Well, that too. But I'm not worried about Shadow. Even though he's not here, it looks like he can take good care of himself, wherever he is. It's his creator that worries me."

  "How so?" Knuckles asked curiously. "The guy was executed by his own government for creating biological weapons. He's not much of a …" His voice trailed off as he began to understand part of what was troubling Rouge. The snowy bat looked up at the sky and frowned. "Before we left the ARK, I got some last minute information off the ARK computer database." Knuckles looked at her and frowned. "I thought I was trying to help you learn some self-control," he growled. "You are", she replied. "But I was curious about something. And the information that I came across confirmed my suspicions."  "Although very few people who survived the ARK lockdown were astronauts with little awareness of Dr. Gerald's experiments, one of them, his premier assistant, managed to get off the colony with several of Gerald's calculations and notes." 

  "So what if some guy smuggled a few notes?" Knuckles retorted. He could understand Rouge's concern, but didn't quite understand what she was getting at. "The guy should be, like Gerald, long dead. Or at least frozen somewhere by G.U.N." Rouge glared back at him. "You don't understand. If he had been 50 yrs old, that would have been the case, but he was 17…the first and only child besides Maria who was aboard the ARK. Gerald was his role model…he looked up to him."

  "So what's a 67 yr old guy gonna do with a bunch of notes?" roared Knuckles. "The way I see it, the worst he could possibly do is sell them to Eggman. And considering how much damage he did when he took advantage of Chaos, I wouldn't be too happy about that."  Rouge, who was getting rather annoyed with Knuckles' attention span, cleared her throat. "You missed the point. I said he was 17. And that he was Gerald's premier assistant. Putting two and two together, he was obviously some kind of super-genius for his age, whose mind rivaled that of Gerald's. If he was that smart, then he _would_ know how to put the doctor's notes into use."

  Knuckles was finally catching on to what his bat companion was beating around the whole time. "You mean that there might be a possibility of more biological weapons like the Biolizard hidden somewhere on Earth?" Rouge looked up at him and smiled, but let her frown slowly return. "That's exactly what I mean. Believe it or not." She looked deep into his eyes. "That's what has me so worried…that another of those creatures might be unleashed to devour the world."

  Another firework exploded in the clear night sky. Using the distraction to his advantage, Knuckles changed the subject. "I invited you here for something else other than learning self-control", he finally blurted out. Rouge cocked an eyebrow in his direction. "Is that so?",she responded inquisitively. She could see that the crimson echidna was up to something; he was having a difficult time looking her straight in the face.  He was also finding it difficult to put up a tough defense for what he was about to say next. "It's hard to get out a lot considering the Master Emerald…and you came along…and…umm…" He stopped talking when he noticed Rouge get up and stand right in front of him, arms crossed.

  "I get the picture.", she said softly. She extended a gloved hand and helped him up. When he was finally able to look into her face again, he found that she had a warm smile on her face. The snowy bat placed a hand on one of his cheeks. "For someone with a rock-hard exterior, you're actually pretty sweet…" She moved in closer and kissed him very softly on the lips…which slowly moved into a soft embrace. And the both of them stayed that way until the end of the fireworks display…


	5. Amy's Vision

  The sun's warm rays woke Amy Rose that morning. She got out of bed, did her stretches to warm up for the day ahead, then headed towards the bathroom holding onto the Sonikuu plushie that she sleeps with each night. Usually such an energetic and cheerful girl, she hadn't been that way since they had all returned from the ARK. When Sonic had revealed to everyone that Shadow was no more, she couldn't help but take pity upon him. But her pity soon turned to guilt. _"He always looked so lost..,"_ she thought. The cold and confused look that he had on his face when she mistook him for Sonic and hugged him…when her words had triggered something in his memory that lead to his eventual disappearance. She was more upset because Sonic was now looking the same way too. 

  She brushed her teeth, showered, doing everything that a girl needs to get ready for the day ahead. She had finished getting into her red boots when there came a knock at her apartment door. Peering through the eyepiece first, she realized that her azure hero stood on the other side. She normally would have been overjoyed with such an unexpected visit, but not this time…

  Amy reluctantly opened the door for Sonic and allowed him to step inside before closing it again. "So what can I help you with?" she asked very plainly. The blue hedgehog raised an eyebrow at Amy. In all the time he had known her, he never knew her to be so frank or blunt. "It's about finding Shadow", he replied. He pointed to her special tarot cards on a shelf nearby. "I recently recalled that you have psychic abilities. So there's a possibility that you might know whether or not Shadow's alive." 

  Amy let out a small sigh, not loud enough for Sonic to hear. Despite the fact that she was head over heels in love with him, she really wasn't too interested in helping. The fact that she was usually the last person that he'd ask for help contributed to that. She was suddenly beginning to feel more like an asset to the blue wonder instead of a close friend. But she would feel guiltier for refusing him since he had saved her life on several various occasions. She hesitated a few more seconds before agreeing. She motioned for Sonic to sit at the den's table until she had finished setting up the cards in the correct order. Amy then threw all her concentration into the heart of the cards…hoping that they would give her some clue as to Shadow's whereabouts.

  Sonic monitored her hand gestures as carefully as possible. Even though he wasn't quite sure what most of the movements were, he knew that each one had a specific importance to it. He remembered how she had been able to predict the exact location of where the Little Planet would next appear. If she was able to have done that with so much precision, he wasn't going to start doubting her predictions now. He came out of his wondering thoughts as Amy had finished stacking the cards into one stack. "Now", she said slowly. "This is the moment of truth. The first 3 cards that I pick from the top of this deck will reveal all."  She asked Sonic to draw one card from the top of the deck face down, then preceded to take the last two top cards and do the same.

  Amy chose the middle card to be revealed first. Earth. She places it aside and reaches for the right card. Light. She places it next to the first card and goes to overturn the last card. Air. The blue speedster stared at the cards that had come up. "What does it all mean?" he asked, completely puzzled to their meaning. Amy paused for a few moments, then smiled. "These are good", she said in her usual cheerful tone. Sonic knew that it had to be good news since Amy was beginning to sound like her old self. Continuing, Amy stated: "He was hurt in that fall, but he's making a quick recovery somewhere." Sonic stood up and sped towards the door before screeching to a stop. "Do you know where he is?" he asked Amy. Amy looked down at the cards on the table. "No", she replied in a plain voice. Sonic could sense that there was something up with Amy, but he was more interested in trying to get to Shadow first. "Thanks" he said quickly as he dashed off to the north side of town.

  Amy closed the door behind the cloud of dust that his feet had created. She went back to clear up her cards and place them back in the order that they had been on the shelf before getting her Piko Piko Hammer from a corner in the living room and placing it in her handbag. _"I'm so sorry Sonikuu. Lying is the last thing I wanted to do. But I must see him first."_


	6. Log Entry #2

Project Aozora No Knife 

Log Week #73

  One of my worst suspicions has been confirmed; Mashuti has been trying to sabotage Aozora's final development progress. At this stage, there's no room for mistakes. I've noticed it for several weeks now. One day her vital monitor readings might be inaccurate because the monitor was unplugged, which it shouldn't be. The next her nerve waves may not acknowledge my presence. 

  I became full aware of this when going through a routine diagnostics check of the computer's main files. I accidentally had stumbled onto a file that had been hidden away from the regularly used drives. Apparently, the person who had encrypted the password network into the file didn't realize they were dealing with a mathematically inclined genius. I instantly designed a makeshift program to break in and relinquish all of the file's data. Apparently, I'm not the only one who keeps a weekly log. 

  The entries start out alright and seem to be harmless, but as I read on, the more I became dismayed over the fact that one of the people that I have come to trust…one who I had come to love as if they were a younger sibling or daughter…had gone to great lengths to attempt to re-program Aozora. Trying to rearrange her mental stability in order to take away her free will. Trying to turn my greatest accomplishment into a living biological weapon to be unleashed upon the world at their beckoning. The same mistake that my mentor Dr. Gerald has made is coming back to haunt me…

  But miraculously, I was able to correct the malfunctions before they were able to cause any real harm to poor Aozora. It upsets me greatly to realize that the others only consider her an object…she's more than that…she is the very starting point of life itself. If only they could see past that…

  Despite the fact that no real harm befell Aozora, Mashuti must pay for this. The best I can do at the moment is to severely restrict her access to Aozora's suspended animation chamber. But I'm afraid that she might have conspirators working within the perimeters. The best I can do is to keep myself on high alert. 

  My dear Aozora…I wish that your coming into this world wouldn't have to be so difficult. I wish that Mashuti's punishment were more severe in order to justify the trouble (and possible pain) that she has inflicted upon you. But I designed you to be just…fair… When the time is right, I'll put her fate into your hands…


	7. Their Dreams

Shadow had fallen into a deep sleep after his first meal. He slept so soundly that Sara didn't have the heart to disturb his slumber, especially since his sleep had been troubled since she recovered him after that harsh fall. She finally had a chance to relax after the overflow of emotions that she had experienced when she found him; her heart ached with both pain and joy, but decided not to question it all at once. So, like Shadow, she retired to her sleeping chamber to get some much needed sleep.

Shadow had begun to dream of his earlier days aboard the ARK, when Maria, the Doctor, and everyone else aboard it were content and well. Of course, his fondest dreams were of his friend Maria, who had been his friend for as long as he could remember. The games they played, the stories she told him about having lived on Earth once,…all came back as if they had only happened yesterday. Even some of the more unpleasant memories, such as Maria's strange illness were in his dreams.

He dreamt about the time that Maria was teaching him how to play hide-and-seek, a game she used to play all the time with her human friends back on Earth before Dr. Gerald brought her to ARK to slow down the progression of her illness. She was trying to help him learn his counting faster with this playful exercise.

"Now Shadow", started Maria. "I want you try and count to 30 while I go and hide. After you finish counting, you can come and find me."

Shadow started to count. "1..2..3.." Maria giggled. "You have to cover your eyes so you won't be able to see where I'm going to hide. Alright?"  He started over, and got up to 29 when he her a faint thump come just down the corridor. He let his hands fall to his side as he saw Maria collapsed on the floor. "Maria!!" he ran over to her screaming. "Maria! Please be alright!" He started to get up to go and fetch Dr. Gerald when she softly said: "I'm proud of you Shadow. You counted." She then proceeded to get up with Shadow's help. "I'll be alright" she said to him reassuringly. "I just think I got a bit too excited when I heard you count all that way by yourself." 

Shadow smiled back at her, although he was generally worried about her falling like that. "Maria was always willing to help me out with whatever she could…" He thought. 

His memories then flashed back to that fateful day aboard the space colony ARK. When G.U.N. sent their forces to put an end to Dr. Gerald's research by any means necessary. "Does any means necessary mean having to kill the innocent?" growled Shadow. He watched the whole incident all over again, except that he could see himself in it. He could see himself running with Maria, following the Doctor's last words to him: "Shadow, do whatever you can to keep Maria safe…"…a new flash of memory showed that someone had stalled forces long enough for the both of them to get a running start…a figure covered completely in a dark cloak, screaming, "GET HER OUT OF HERE! BOTH OF YOU GO! NOW!"  He saw the both of them running towards the last pair of escape capsules, both of them near the helm of the door, when he heard a loud bang come from behind them, and saw Maria collapse to his side, clutching onto one of her sides. He watched in horror as the blood dripped from her hand, which she was using as a makeshift bandage. Some heartless creature had shot her while they were running.

Shadow's eyes flashed with a burning anger after witnessing what he had just seen. "She was defenseless…innocent…and they still went and shot her anyway". He saw himself running back towards her sniper and doing a spin attack onto his gun before performing a roundhouse kick into the soldier's head, knocking him out cold. "I hope that sick fuck is burning in hell for that." He saw himself run back over to Maria, who had managed to struggle back up onto her feet. Instead of the look of sheer horror that he expected to see on her face, he noticed that she had more of an angelic glow to her entire frame more radiant than any other time in her short life. Her eyes were closed, but no tears fell from them as she inched herself closer and closer towards their intended destination. He watched on as he saw himself running after her, to see if he could help her. He ran into the room, and at first couldn't notice Maria in the corner. He took a few more steps before he suddenly found himself encased within the first escape pod. He tried to move forward to help his past self escape, but it was no good. He looked up to see that Maria was standing in the corner, waiting to finish the escape sequence.

Tears filled his eyes as he saw himself frantically banging upon the glass walls, trying to reach her before it was too late. "Maria…you should have saved yourself...I could have taken care of myself…" he sobbed. He noticed every movement Maria's body made; her free hand, which was on the ignition press, trembled uncontrollably. Her knees knocked, and her starry blue eyes were rapidly losing their shine. She placed what little strength she had left into the press, saying the words that have haunted him: "Give them a chance to be happy... You were brought into this world for that purpose….I know you can do it…"  He watched as his capsule slowly descended into the atmosphere, leaving the only place that he had known as home…along with his only friend, behind to their fates. He felt the drowsiness that the escape capsule put upon him, and was rendered unconscious…his last thoughts being: "Maria, for the people of this world…I promise you…REVENGE!!!" He could feel himself ascending higher above the whole scene, still watching on as the G.U.N. troops stormed into the area, not finding Shadow, then turning their sights onto Maria, gunning her down where she stood.

He let his tears run down his cheeks. Having to witness that horrific scene again and again in his mind just made his heart ache. He was truly sorry he had lost his friend. He was willing to do anything to justify her death, including bringing upon the end of the world. But he remembered her promise and kept it. Now that he had done so, he felt empty…incomplete…

Shadow noticed that he was in different surroundings. Clear blue skies, clouds. He felt himself floating in one direction, towards a warm and radiant light. His mouth dropped open when he saw who it was. 

"Maria?"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

A few rooms across from where Shadow lay and dreamt, Sara was having her own share of visions as well. She had been having an interesting conversation with her chao companion, Rai, when they overheard the commotion from the Charmy birds. She ran over to get her Kendo staff and ran in the direction of the noise. But what she had expected to be an intruder wasn't one at all. She took something out of her cloak, perhaps a picture, and stared long and hard at it, before smiling and tending to the fallen, who was now no longer a stranger in her eyes. 

She and Rai gingerly brought the injured Shadow back to her cottage, which had been built around some ancient structures that were in great condition. With all her knowledge of medical plants and herbs, she tended to the wounded hedgehog with the precision and care of a trained physician. After doing the best she could, all she could do was pray for the blessing of Aozora upon his head….

Tikal interrupted her dream. Sara ran over to greet her. "It's good to see you in good spirits Tikal", she said softly.  The beige echidna smiled as she lowered herself down towards Sara, who in her eyes stayed the young girl that she had grown to love as a sister. She gave the tan hedgehog a stern and concerned look. "All is not good I'm afraid", she plainly stated. "This is urgent, and it cannot be overlooked any further." Eyes filled her tears as she turned her face way from the puzzled hedgehog. "A great darkness is resurfacing…"

All at once Sara now understood full well what was at hand. "The disturbance of the balances…" Her face still showed a bit of confusion upon it. "But balance was restored when Atlantis was destroyed and…" Her sentence remained unfinished as Tikal interrupted her. "No Only delayed. The mystical text used to destroy Atlantis housed both spirits. But now, someone has unknowingly disturbed the balances; the spirit of light is safe, but the spirit of darkness is restless and is getting stronger by the second. If the dark spirit reaches its true potential, the world will perish."

Sara fell to her knees upon hearing that. Her eyes struggled to hold back tears, but failed in doing so, letting them come out. "No.."  Tikal bent down to help her up. "The sacrifices of the past might not have foreseen this, but they tried. Now it's your turn. You must protect the being of life...and that is all that I can tell you for now…"

She awoke to find herself in bed, holding her Kendo staff within her grasp. "The day which the ancient texts have feared is near at hand…"


	8. Amy's Little Mishap

"Damnit!!" yelled Amy. A stray branch had just scratched her left leg. She watched as the blood slowly trickled down her leg and unto her boot. Her visions of Shadow had led her to this mystical island that appeared to be completely inhabited by botanical life. "Of all the places that hedgehog had to fall, he picks this!" Her eyes scanned the branch that had scrapped her. A sweat drop started to appear on her rose temple when she realized that it was a poison ivy branch that had "attacked" her. "Oh no!!" she screamed. Her wound started to itch and ache like there was no tomorrow. "Don't touch!! Don't touch!!" she scram as she ran through the jungle of leaves and branches. With all her running and screaming she ran straight into a clearance upon which was a cottage. "Maybe the people inside can help me!"

She ran up to the door and gave it a firm knock. "Hello? Is anyone there? I need some help!" She was doing the best she could not to touch the wound, but her basic instinct gave in. She started scratching at it frantically when the door was opened. Sara stepped out to see Amy scratching at full speed. "Don't do that! You're only going to make it worse!" yelled Sara. "I CAN'T HELP IT!" Amy yelled back. Sara became quite annoyed by this and angrily pulled Amy inside by the ear. "If you insist on doing this the hard way…" She brought Amy into a room full of ancient manuscripts and relics. "You'll stay here until I can find some bandaging and the antidote for that." she said gruffly. 

Amy could sense Shadow's presence was strong. "He must be here", she thought. She tiptoed out of the room and slowly walked down the hall. "I think he's in here." She smiled as she opened the room door to find him in bed, sound asleep. "SHADOW!" she said cheerfully. Her hands covered her mouth because she didn't want to disturb him. But it was too late. The black hedgehog began to stir where he lay. Amy inched closer and closer to him until she finally knelt at his bedside. Sara walked in with the stuff she needed for Amy's wound. "I thought I told you to stay in one place!" she yelled at Amy. "Amy…" said Shadow softly. Shadow opened his eyes to see the rose colored hedgehog that knelt before him. She smiled back at him but was taken back by the worried look on his face. "What are you looking at Shadow" she asked in her normal tone of voice. He simply pointed towards her wound, which looked worse than it did because of the escaping blood. Amy looked down, gasped, and then preceded in fainting right at Shadow's bedside. Sara stepped forward to fix Amy's wound. "That's exactly why I told her not to move. Blood leaves the wound more quickly."

Hours later…

Amy woke to find herself in bed in a different room. She tried to get up, but her left leg ached terribly. Removing the sheets carefully, she discovered that her leg had swollen up quite a bit. But the cut and the dried up blood had been cleaned away, anointed, and bandaged. Taking her time, she tried to get herself out of the bed. But the first step that she took made her cry out in agony. "OWW!!!", she screamed at the top of her lungs. Just then Shadow ran in, ready to fight. He lowered his defenses when he noticed that it was only Amy. "SHADOW!", she exclaimed. She tried to take another step towards him, but it sent another surge of pure pain down her spine. Shadow leapt over to help her back into bed. "You know," he started to say, "you shouldn't have ran around like that with your wound. Sara told me that poison ivy spreads very quickly in an open cut." 

Amy struggled to sit up in bed. "I was just really excited to see you", she stated sadly. She had forgotten about her wound the moment she laid eyes on Shadow…just seeing him alive was enough to make her heart jump out of her body. Shadow turned away from her with his signature coldness. "You should have listened. Now you're going to be in bed for at least a day." Amy looked at Shadow with a puzzled look. "It's not that bad", she started finally. "After the trip that I made just to find you, a day in bed doesn't sound so bad." Her facial expression showed more bewilderment after seeing Shadow turn around, blush and look away towards the window. She tried to get up again, but Shadow yelled back at her to stay where she was. She finally looked down at herself and realized that she was completely naked. "WHAT HAPPENED TO MY CLOTHES!", she screamed.

Sara, along with Rai, walked in with more ointment and a pair of clothing. The cheerful little chao proceeded to make a seat for itself on Amy's lap. "Oh good, you're awake", she said cheerfully. She lifted up the bed sheeting to reveal only the bandage leg and began to work on it. "I apologize for my rudeness earlier. I should have been more polite, but the majority of uninvited visitors don't tend to be friendly."  Amy looked at the tan hedgehog curiously. "If you're wondering what I did with your garments, I had to burn them."

"Burn them?!? Why'd you go and do that! I didn't bring an extra pair!!"

Sara rolled her eyes back in reply. "I had to burn them. Because of how you were scratching at that wound of yours, the oil of the poison ivy might have spread to your clothing. And even after you washed it off, the oil would still be there to irritate your skin. But not to worry, I've made a new pair of clothes for you to wear tomorrow. That's provided that your wound swells down." Amy gave her a blank stare. She wasn't ungrateful for the kindness and gratitude that was being bestowed upon her, but she was very fashion sensitive. She could imagine herself wearing a bunch of leaves in return for not listening to her caretaker in the first place. 

"All done", Sara said finally. She replaced the bed sheet softly, set the clothes in a corner of the room, and walked out to her business. She whistled for the little chao to follow behind her. Amy watched as they left. She pulled up the bed sheets to her neck level before trying to speak again.  "Shadow", she started out slowly, "it's my fault you fell from the ARK."

He turned around with one eyebrow cocked up. "Your fault? If anything, it was my own fault. All those years in suspended animation nearly made me forget what I promised to Maria…if it weren't for you, I might not have been able to remember until it was too late to undo what was done." The smoke black hedgehog glided over to her bedside and knelt down before her. "I don't know how I can ever begin to thank you for aiding me so much."

Amy instantly began to blush as he uttered those words of flattery. "Sonic and the others never really said anything so nice to me before." She thought. Thinking back to other adventures, she finally realized that Sonic and the others never really wanted much help from her. She had managed to get kidnapped by Metalla instead of aiding Sonic with his quest on the Little Planet. And after that, Zero had captured her when she was helping her friend Birdy find its family. She had aided them by befriending and reasoning with most of the enemies, and only fought back as a last resort. But now a fellow hero knelt beside her, openly showing the gratitude and respect that she had so longed to hear from her love Sonic...

She jumped up and gave Shadow a tremendously powerful hug. Shadow jumped back a bit, but he couldn't escape the pink hedgehog's grip. He started blushing again when he realized that she wasn't the least bit covered up. "Umm, Amy", he said meekly. He covered his eyes and pointed down at her. She took a white cloth lying around near by and rapped it around herself as a cloak. "I'll never understand why you and Sonic feel the need to stay naked", she said playfully.

Sara, once more accompanied by Rai, walked back in carrying the bag that Amy had brought on her trip. "I didn't want to burn this because something of importance might be inside", she said softly. She tossed it over to her, and she immediately dumped all the contents onto the bed. A gold bracelet, her Piko Piko Hammer, and a wallet-size picture of her love fell out. She smiled as she slid over closer towards Shadow. "I believe you were missing this", she said while pointing to his bare arm. It was the only thing that Sonic had been able to hold onto before Shadow plummeted down to the earth below. When he had dashed off after she had revealed that Shadow was alive and well, she decided to take it to him. Shadow smiled as he placed the sparkling bracelet back onto his hand. It glistened in the fading, yet somewhat bright sunset. "I see you cleaned it up as well", he said smiling. "I couldn't have done a better job myself."

Amy was about to say, "You're really welcome" but stumbled back after another surge of pain came from her bandaged leg. This time, Sara caught her in the nick of time. "The sooner you rest, the sooner you can help us.", she said insistently. The two hedgehogs both looked at her in bewilderment, but that expression soon slide off of Shadow's face when he realized that she must have had the same vision that he had since he woke up that morning.  "I can sense that you need to protect this being as well…Aozora Knife…", he stated. Sara nodded back. "You have my help on all levels." he began. "I owe you as much for your gratitude, but I also must do this…I still have to keep Maria's promise."

Amy stared at the both of them confused. Shadow turned towards her with a look of pure sincerity. He looking into her eyes, as he asked, "Amy, it would be an honor if you could fight by my side in the journey that we will soon undertake." Amy blushed a darker shade of red after that. She couldn't remember the last time when someone had actually asked for her assistance in something. "Oh yeah," she remembered. "Sonic asked only because he was desperate. If I was the key to something, he'd take every other solution before trying me." 

Shadow waved a hand in front of her face. "Amy? Is anyone inside?" She jumped out of her thoughts back into reality. She looked up at him and smiled as she agreed to help him and Sara in whatever way possible on their journey.


	9. Heroes Unite

Rouge was up early for once. Usually she'd sleep all day then spend the night flying around the Floating Island. But what was the point in trying to enjoy yourself if your mind was sending out signals of something disturbing? Even though she had promised herself (as well as Knuckles) that she would get out of spying, her intuition was telling her something different. And now, here she was, on the same rock that she and Knuckles had… She tried to focus on her main agenda to stop herself from thinking about last night. "Business before pleasure..." She thought as she started up her laptop. 

As it finished starting up, she immediately went into the government's military project files. She looked up Project Shadow's file first. "Destroyed by G.U.N. forces" it read. "Not bloody likely", Rouge muttered under her breath. It read the same under "The Ultimate Life Form". "Those pricks don't know squat", she thought as she scrolled down further on the page. Her eyes caught something near the very bottom of the page. "Project Aozora No Knife…strange, I've never heard of a project like that before." She clicked on the page link to it. 

 "My conscience won't rest until I get to the bottom of this." She thought. "Why does that somehow sound familiar?"  

The page itself reads like this:

Thanks to the exploits of Dr. Yasutmito and Co., Project Aozora No Knife is due to be near completion on ## ## ####. 

This project is said to be a breakthrough in the technology of biogenetics and a combination of ancient manuscript. Utilizing the life forces of light, wind, water, and earth, this creation can control them at will…

Rouge stopped reading and just sat there petrified, wondering at what terror this new creation could unleash upon the world.  "Aozora Knife was the name of an ancient goddess…". A memory of a certain childhood story flooded back into her mind…about Atlantis….how it had been destroyed to protect the rest of the developing world from its inhabitants, who wished to kill off the other civilizations and have the planet for themselves. She flew over to the island's supply shed and stocked up on rations for a few hours. "I better not let Knuckles know that I'm leaving", she whispered as she took off into the early morning sky. "This latest project has "disaster" written all over it…"

Meanwhile…

Tails was busy retuning the Tornado when Sonic burst in. He looked up from under the plane to see Sonic as his usual cool self. Considering what happened to him and Shadow last week, this was a welcome sight to see. 

"Hey Sonic!" he yelled cheerfully. "What's up?" He came out from under the plane, most of his golden brown fur covered with the dark oil that had been leaking out of the Tornado. 

The blue blur looked at his messy two-tailed friend and couldn't help but let out a little snicker. He always thought it was a bit funny whenever Tails got a little bit too involved into creating or improving one of his inventions. "I ran all the way from Amy's apartment in Station Square", he started out. The fox raised an eyebrow at him and grinned. "Sleeping over?", he said slyly. A frown formed on Sonic's face as he gave Tails a short answer to that. "No. I was over there yesterday and she used her tarot cards to tell me that Shadow's alive somewhere." 

"What took you so long to get over here then? You're supposed to be the fastest thing alive you know!", yelled Tails. Sonic pointed over to the several misplaced quills on his back. "You think that Eggman would have learnt something after his grandfather tried to kill every living thing on the planet!" he said angrily. "I had to go through a whole shitload of battle zones and stop him from taking the 6 remaining Chaos Emeralds on the way here. SO CUT ME SOME SLACK!!" he yelled out. Tails lowered his defenses and apologized. "Okay, okay. I take that back Sonic. It's not my fault that you're on call 24-7." 

He and Sonic started throwing playful punches at each other when Sonic realized that he had left Shadow's bracelet back at Amy's apartment. "Damnit!" he yelled out loud. "I gotta go back and get Shadow's bracelet at Amy's!" Tails began to grin again. "And that's supposed to be a bad thing?" he asked playfully. "Shut up Miles", Sonic growled at him. He knew how much Tails loathed being called by his first name.

Back at Amy's apartment…

"Where could she have gone?" asked Tails.

"I dunno, maybe there's a 100% off sale at some store", joked Sonic. "Wait, look", he said as he pointed to a piece of paper that had once been attached to the front door. It read:

Dear Sonic: I know that you rather find Shadow on your own, but that's something I have to do. I don't care if he's good or evil, all I know is that back on the ARK, he became one of my friends the moment he decided to go and help you guys. 

 You'll probably be steaming mad over the fact that I actually had a good sense of where he was. This is my strongest lead and I'm going to follow it. 

For once, I'm acting on my own instead of waiting around for you to do it.

Sincerely,

Amethyst Rose

Tails was on the floor, laughing his two-tailed ass off, but Sonic didn't really seem to find anything funny about it. "Loosen up", said Tails. "This is what you get for always completely ignoring her all those other times. She's probably just getting back at you."  The cerulean hedgehog glared back with fierce eyes. "Amy's too considerate of a person to be able to do this.", thought Sonic. He thought back to the Little Planet incident, how Metalla had captured her and placed her as a prize in a racing showdown…how he had won and Amy was head over heels crazy for him the moment she laid eyes on him…

He came out of his thoughts in time to see the crumbled note fall to the floor. "Let's head back to your workshop", he said dully. 

A few hours later at the workshop…

 The heroic duo arrived to find Rouge waiting outside the main entrance. "You already know that Shadow's alive somewhere?" started the blue blur. She shook her head in response. "I know Shadow's a survivor", cooed Rouge, "But we have other things that we need to deal with at the moment.", She filled the others in on G.U.N's latest project. 

Tails: First nuclear weapons, now this.

Rouge: If that power fell into the wrong hands, the world would be at its mercy. Even worse, if this thing was created for the soul purpose of destruction….there's no telling in what will happen…

Tails: That's just great. What is it with people and destroying to world? And why are we always the ones who have to clean up those messes? 

Sonic: What about Knuckles? He'd probably want to help…well, if it involved the Master Emerald.

Rouge: I dunno…he's pretty dedicated to the emerald…so I didn't tell him about this. Don't want it to interfere with his duties….

Sonic: Alright then. Guess it's just us three then. Let's move out!


	10. Chaos Control!

While Sonic and the others were formulating a plan of attack upon the G.U.N. base where Project Aozora No Knife was situated, Shadow and Amy were formulating one of their own. Although Sara and Shadow had practically shared the same vision, Shadow was 100% certain that the being was being held somewhere on the now charred Prison Island. Seeing as he had a better sense of it, she allowed him to formulate a plan of entry and exit.

Having listened to Shadow's pleas to stay in bed, and with some help from Sara's special ointment, Amy's poison ivy wound healed miraculously overnight. To her surprise, it had swollen down to only the mere scratch that it had once been. And further more, the clothes that Sara had laid out before suited her well. They made her look older than her true age and even a bit taller, just about Shadow's height.

She walked over to Sara and Shadow, who were in the cottage's study. Both seemed to be having a bit of an argument about the entrance formation.

"I think we should go under with as little attention as possible."

"True. But we'll still draw attention to ourselves. That island blew up a week ago. No doubt there'll be backup G.U.N soldiers swarming it."

"But the entire situation is a delicate situation within itself. We need to approach this with the greatest of care. Which means no senseless bloodshed…"

Both hedgehogs finally took notice of Amy, who had been standing in the room for a few minutes. Shadow spoke up. "Amy", he asked in his usual coldness, "Do you agree that we should get through with any means necessary?" The sakura-colored hedgehog shook her dismay with the question. "I think Sara is right. We only need to use force when necessary. And besides, I'd think you'd want to avoid any type of force. If G.U.N catches on that you're still very much alive, who knows what those lunatics might do."

"Shadow, I agree with Amy", stated Sara. "After what you told me about their treatment of you, I don't think you'd like the idea of being in an endless sleep again. 50 years of sleep sounds…long."

"I guess you're right.", he finally agreed. "But what I wouldn't give to get my hands on the bastards responsible for…" Sara placed a hand on his shoulder. "The memory may hurt. But the best we can do is move on…"

He arose with his back turned towards the both of them. "Let's move out. he commanded. As both of them left, tears fell from his crimson colored eyes. "Maria…I wish could have saved you. But you asked me in my dream to do something for you. I won't let you down…"

 Amy ran back into her recovering room to retrieve her hammer, while Sara ran into her medicine closet and grabbed a few plant leaves she thought would be helpful. Then she ventured outside to gather a young branch from a tree that she had known from when the island was first created. She kept it close to her heart, as a token of good luck on the journey she was about to undertake. She stepped back into her house, gave Rai a hug and told him to watch over the island during her absence before going for her staff.

With Kendo staff in hand, she walked back in to rejoin Amy and Shadow, who upon falling from the A.R.K. had managed to somehow hold onto the 7th Chaos Emerald. "I always wondered what Chaos Control was like", said Amy. After seeing Shadow do it once before yesterday, and on their previous adventure, she was very much fascinated by it. "You're going to love it then", he said with a grin. He glanced over towards Sara. "You have everything you need?", he asked curiously. She gently tapped on her sack. "Food rations and healing herbs. Plus this." She held her staff up high. "Let's dash!", yelled Amy. The older pair just blinked. "Uh…never mind.", she said sheepishly.

Shadow asked both girls to hold onto his free arm. In the other arm, he held the green Chaos Emerald above their heads. "CHAOS CONTROL!!!", he yelled with every ounce of strength he had. They all began to glow within an eerie white light, slowly fading away until a bright flash of light came and went to reveal they had completely disappeared.


	11. Remembering Maria

The doctor watched in awe as he finally shut down Aozora's suspended animation chamber. Watching her sleep naturally was one of his greatest thrills for today. Soon, very soon, he would be letting her step out for the very first time. He beamed with joy. He walked up to the chamber window and took a glance at the sleeping beauty that lay within. "Soon my dear…very soon. You will share your gifts with this world."

 His mind slowly began to drift into times that could only match the happiness that he had only known...he had once known true happiness during his numbered days upon the space colony ARK working right alongside his mentor Prof. Gerald. For him, it was quite the achievement; prior to this, none of his family members had sufficient paying jobs, so they were forced to scrounge and beg because of the lack of a formal education. Prof. Gerald, who had been giving a speech in the part of the city where Yatusmito's family resided, was very impressed by the boy's ingenuity and took him in as his ward, promising the boy's family a proper education and decent work in return for their well-being. Working alongside a hero was probably one of his greatest dreams…except maybe for the love of a certain young girl…

He saw his younger self upon the colony, having free time from his studies and assistant duties. Walking down one of the main corridors of the ARK, reading George Orwell's 1984. The war before had scared most sensible people out of their wits. But the story itself proved to be entertaining to him. So entertaining that he became absorbed in it, which rewarded him with quite a few scoldings from Dr. Gerald for not focusing on his work. Not to mention…Oomph!!!

He was knocked over by someone that he hadn't seen coming. "WHY DON'T YOU WATCH WHAT YOU..", he started to say enraged. He stopped upon taking notice of his tackler. He used his left hand to mark his place in the book while lending the other over to help up Maria, who had only been playing an innocent game of Tag with her playmate.

"I'm sorry Yoshimo, I should have paid more attention to where I was going." She said politely. He shook his head. "No", he said softly. "It's my fault. I get so involved in books that I sometimes forget where I am. I should have been watching my way."

He remembered her reaching down to hand him back the dried plant leaf he used as a makeshift bookmark. He smiled as he placed a hand upon her shoulder, and thought that he might just give her a hug when someone poked him from behind. 

He turned around to find the figure of a black hedgehog standing before him. A very pissed black hedgehog. "Maria!", it said impatiently. "We're still playing tag, right?" He glanced back at the girl, who had a smile on her face again. "I'm sorry, I just got a little bit side tracked when I bumped into him." She jumped over to tag him on the shoulder. "You're it again!" she yelled while dashing back down the corridor in the same direction from which she came. "No fair!!" the hedgehog yelled as it ran in the opposite direction. 

He snapped back into his current reality. "You remind me so much of her it sends a chill down my spine", he whispered to the slumbering figure. His mind again wandered back into his past sub consciousness, this time to the ARK lockdown. He could once again see his youthful form as he witnessed it panic after thoughtlessly running into a dead end. Once again feeling the fear rush through every vein in his body…the look of terror upon his face as if he were a wounded animal about to be put out of its misery. Fear was furiously building up inside him when he heard a loud shot come from the other side of the corridor, shortly accompanied by a short cry of pain.  He listened further as a familiar voice yelled, "Maria!" frantically. Her name echoed within the depths of his very soul as he rushed over as carefully as he could towards the voice. He watched on as G.U.N. soldiers who wanted to take him out delayed him. 

With each fist that he connected or kick that he delivered, it felt like an eternity…the voice had stopped shouting ages ago. He fought harder. Hard enough to break free and reach his destination with enough time to get in and save the both of them. But time had already run out for one of them. He looked on in dismay as Maria lay still on the floor. He watched himself take steps over towards her, before finally kneeling down at her side.

From the location of the two shots that she has sustained, it didn't look like she'd last any longer. So he decided to comfort her during the last moments of life. He scooped her up ever so gently into his arms, brushing aside the golden strands of hair that had been misplaced. He held onto one of her hands, noticing that it was still warm, knowing full well that it wouldn't be as warm in a short while. He felt pressure back on his hand. She had managed to get a grip on his hand…. she was still alive…somewhat. She gasped for air, but kept her eyes closed. The pressure was increasing; she was struggling just to hang on. "Give them…a chance…to be…happy,…" she uttered. She released her grip on my hand. 

Oh the pain! The pain I felt once she let go of my hand! Of all the people who didn't deserve such a horrendous demise, she was one of them! She had fought all her life just to survive, and for what? To be blown away by a bunch of power hungry monsters who don't understand progress?  All she could do was give love, hope. To her, it didn't matter that she was sick or might not get well. All that mattered to her was to see the people she cared about happy. And I was one of them…

The doctor broke down in tears after reminiscing about that painful moment in his life. As he wipes them away, he glances over at the sleeping entity. "I pray that you bring the joy and hope that she once wanted for the world."


	12. Mashuti Loses Control

Mashuti was wandering around the lab again. In her mind, the past few weeks had been shrouded in nothing by trouble for her. Whenever she did her routine check-up of Aozora's stats…there would be a huge gap in her memory, where the only thing she could remember would be waking up. And of recent Dr. Yasutmito accused her of sabotage, along with restricting her access to the project.

Sabotage? Her mind and heart clashed together at the prospect. Her heart was screaming out that she was innocent of any wrongdoing, but her mind knew different. She knew she couldn't remember a thing in between the check-ups and awakening else where. It proved difficult to recall what happened during her lapses in memory. She could sense that the Doctor might be right about his suspicions. 

But her heart still raged on about it. She was upset over the fact that the doctor could accuse her of such a crime. More than anyone else she knew, he should be able to have trusted in her character. But that probably went down the drain after he showed as proof the entries that she has supposedly typed during her memory lapses. And the strange thing about them was, that they felt familiar…familiar in the sense that she has secretly had those thoughts somewhere deep inside her before. 

But the question that stood before her was how those thoughts arose from within her to cause such havoc. Just trying to remember was making her migraine worse. "Every time I try to remember what I can't, my living headache gets worse", she mumbled in her thought. The inner conflict between her heart and mind suddenly erupted into a cry of sheer agony. "WHY CAN'T I REMEMBER ONE SINGLE THING!" she screamed out in pain. 

She collapsed to the floor, still on her knees, but apparently struggling to get up under her own will. Her heart was pounding furiously, raging a long and hard fought battle with her scientific mind. 

"I know I didn't do such horrible things to the Doctor. I care for him too much. I could never hurt him.."

but he hurt you. You loved him and he hurt you. All he cares about is that project of his

"That's not true. The doctor tends to get carried away in his work, that's all. He cares for me greatly."

That is not how he felt when he blocked you from that project. That thing, Aozora as he calls it, is the trouble of all this

"Aozora means a lot to the doctor. He wants to use her to bring joy and happiness to the world. He sees all the good that science can achieve hidden deep within her."

Aozora is nothing but trouble. It's because of her that the doctor hates you.

"He's upset at me for things that I would never do. I know how much Aozora's completion means to him. I could never do something to ruin what he has worked so hard for.."

but you did. You sabotaged everything. You hate her. You want her dead. You want him to yourself. You…

"I WOULD NEVER DO ANYTHING SO HARSH AS TO DESTROY ANOTHER'S LIFE WORK! It…it was you…you're doing this…you want to hurt the doctor…you…

Yanai blacked out soon after that. Her heart wasn't strong enough to fight off her mind's attack. The doctor's lack of faith in her proved to be more than she could handle. Her body was still moving though. It managed to get back onto its feet.

"fools all of them. The doctor proved to be more of a fool than all of them, except maybe for this pathetic one. She gave me more of a fight than I anticipated. But she proved to be expandable. Just like Aozora Knife will be..."


	13. Arrival on Prison Island

The hedgehog trio had managed to use Chaos Control to arrive on the charred remains of Prison Island safely. No soldiers were in sight, but that didn't mean that they weren't there. Shadow made it a point for the three of them to be on full alert; you just couldn't be too sure with G.U.N.

Sara looked on in dismay at all the destroyed and dying plant life that they passed on their way. "What ever did happen here?", she asked sadly. Shadow frowned because he knew she wouldn't like his answer, and was about to confess his hand in it when Amy jumped in. "This really bad man called Dr. Eggman tricked two people into doing his dirty work. It's not their fault; they didn't know it would end up like this."  The beige hedgehog shook her head in disapproval. "When will people learn not to abuse the earth.." she mumbled while moving forward, leaving the other two alone for a moment.

Shadow turned towards Amy, with a confused look on his face. "Why'd you defend me like that?", he inquired. "I know that she'd probably never forgive me for the things I've done this past week." Amy just smiled back at him. "Friends defend friends, right?", she giggled. She placed a gloved hand on his shoulder. "You may not have understood what you were doing in the beginning, but you were able to realize what you had to do before it was too late. And right now, you're trying to continue in fulfilling that promise to your friend. So it's about time you were cut some slack." Shadow looked at her once again, this time his signature frown was turned into a half-smile. "Thanks", he said plainly. 

Their private moment was abruptly interrupted from a loud scream a few meters ahead. Both rushed over to see Sara struggling a bit to hold her own against some of the few functional G.U.N. beetle bots that still remained on the island. "Get away from me, you pieces of flying rubbish!", she yelled as she landed a direct hit into one of them, sending it crashing to the ground in sizzling fragments. Amy joined in using her Piko Piko Hammer to smash the beetles as flat as pancakes while Shadow did a series of aerial spin attacks to slice and dice the others. In the end, all that remained of the beetle robots was a smoldering pile of metal rubbish.

"You're pretty formidable with that staff of yours," complimented Shadow, who was brushing the last bits of twisted robot off himself.  The beige hedgehog smiled as she pulled off a elegant baton-like twirl with the staff. "I was taught well by a dear friend", she beamed. Amy pointed in the direction of an underground opening from which the robots had appeared. "Hey Shadow", she started, "do you suppose that we might make use of this as an entrance?"

All three walked over to examine the opening closer. After a few moments Shadow came to the conclusion that they would be able to enter safely, since they had managed to destroy most of the beetles here on the surface. And finding a better entry point might prove to be dangerous if the beetles they destroyed had sent out a emergency signal for backup. 

"It looks more like a straight drop, so I suggest the two of you hold on to me", judged Shadow. "With my hover shoes, we have a better chance of gliding down safely." Both women did as he suggested. Holding on firmly to both girls, Sara with her Kendo Staff outstretched and Amy doing the same with her hammer to slowly inch themselves down just in case, Shadow began their descent into uncertainty.

Meanwhile, on another side of Prison Island….

"Damnit Tails," grumbled Sonic. "Would it kill you to put a few extra seats in this cramped plane of yours?" He was pretty fed up of always having to stand on the Tornado's wings to get to aqua-submerged locations. At this rate, he might have just swam the whole way (even though he absolutely hated water). The little fox just rolled his eyes back in reply. "For someone who's used this plane systematically, you would've figured out by now that the spare seat is compact." He then proceeds to show the blue speedster how to prepare the seat in 3 simple steps. Click, push, and pull. 

 Knuckles appeared out of nowhere, which sort of caught Rouge off-guard. He said as-a-matter-of-factly, "I had a hunch you'd be here."  She just rolled her eyes in reply. "There's still a lot you have to learn about me, echidna", she said softly. 

Knuckles cracked his enormous knuckles. Since guarding the Master Emerald took up most of his spare time, he was just aching for a good fight. "Hey fox boy, save the demonstration for later. I want to get this done as quickly as possible." Sonic takes a couple of glances at their surroundings, which were apparently occupied by themselves. "What's the rush?" he asked. "Eggman barbequed the island to extra-crispy. Doubt anyone's going to be around here." Rouge shook her head in disagreement. "Having worked for the government, I know for a fact that they wouldn't just let something like this go by unnoticed. Stronger forces should be here…probably under camouflage. So keep your guard up."

"We'll take your lead on this Rouge", said Tails. Sonic motioned for them to start moving out when they were suddenly surrounded by G.U.N. agents. The strongest looking one out of the group of 6 agents spoke up. "Freeze. We're taking you all in for questioning." He then noticed Rouge out of the corner of his eye. 

"Agent Rouge?", he asked curiously. The snow colored bat immediately stepped forward and gave an army salute, during which she managed to give a quick signal to Knuckles and the others. 

"Where have you been? Our forces lost contact with you after you contacted the President last week. What has kept you from fully reporting to us? And what are you doing with these characters? They're wanted for questioning." Rouge took a few steps forward towards the agent before saying, "As a matter of fact, I was bringing them in for questioning myself." She watched on as he cocked an eyebrow. 

"Is that so?", he taunted. "As a matter of fact", she retorted, "I was. And the reason I lost communication with headquarters was because my com-link was destroyed during battle." Her aqua blue eyes pierced into the agent's own, which she was relying on. The other agents seemed to be staring into her eyes (if not something else) as well. 

There were a few moments of silence after that as it seemed to Sonic and the others that Rouge was having a staring contest between that group of agents. It paid off though; within seconds all 6 agents were frozen in place by her stare. She turned over towards her confused comrades. "If you're wondering what I did to them, I hypnotized them. A special kind of hypnotism that we bats possess. By staring directly into someone's eyes, we can render them frozen statues at will."

Knuckles looking a little pissed off, asked, "That makes me wonder…". Rouge turned back at him and added, "We can control it to the point where we can hypnotize certain people." She flashed him a smile to cheer him up. "I never did that with you. I was having to much fun." Turning back to the immobilized agents, she ordered them while still in their frozen trance to swim to the farthest stretch of land, forget that she and the others were ever on this island, and discard their weapons on the island at the snap of her fingers. When she did so, they dropped their guns and ran off past them, jumping into the ocean to begin their swim.

Rouge turned around to face her companions once more. "What are you waiting for?", she asked. She then noticed where the three of them were staring. "Men…"she muttered furiously. The trio snapped out of their prior thoughts to focus on the objective that lay ahead: infiltrate the hidden base on the island and eliminate Project Aozora No Knife.

Tails punched a few digits on the onboard computer in the Tornado to calculate the closest points of entry. After a few seconds, the computer screen showed a large hole that wasn't too far from where they stood. "There's a hole we can jump into that's not too far from here", he piped up. "Even better because there aren't too many agents around. So we'll sneak in practically undetected. AGH!" The two-tailed wonder had been pulled out of his seat by his role-model. "STOP RELYING ON TECHNOLOGY!", yelled Sonic. "You're not taking that pile of metal along for the adventure. You need to learn how to think while on your feet."

All four creatures hurried off to the entry point using as much stealth as possible. Even though the computer had said that there was virtually no interference, they couldn't be too safe. One by one they all jumped into the hole: Sonic spin-attacking all the way through, Rouge and Knuckles using their gliding ability to soften their fall, and Tails slowly propelling his tails to hover downward into the unknown.


	14. Shadow Recalls His Dream

In the mist of the dark tunnel they were traveling through, Shadow found his mind elsewhere. The three of them had managed to land safely at the end of the once dark abyss and were now moving along on foot. But their progress was delayed due to Shadow's apparent daydreams.

"Shadow!", squeaked Amy. "You're standing on my foot!"  The sakura colored hedgehog whacked some sense into him with her hammer. Sara gagged his mouth in the meanwhile to avoid any unwanted attention if any more robots happened to be near by.

"Maybe we should have let you rest up a bit more before coming here", said Sara. She was afraid that even if his wounds had healed as rapidly as they did, he still might be too weak to keep up a fight. She stepped back as he took her hand away from his mouth and let out a small sigh.

"I'm alright, but the chain of recent events have clouded my thoughts." Amy moved in closer to him, already having a sense of where this might be going. "Shadow", she started off slowly, "You shouldn't go blaming yourself for what happened. If anything, you tried and did set things right…"

"It's not that Amy. It's this feeling of incompleteness that I've been feeling since then. No family, no friends…"

"You have two good friends right here, so don't let that count."

"You don't understand…this feeling. I don't belong anywhere. The ARK was probably the only place where I was truly accepted. But after recent events, I'm having trouble believing that…"

Sara placed her gentle hand upon his shoulder once again. "You're not alone on this world. I too long for the homes that fate stole away from me. Wishing for things to get better never works unless you work for it yourself. As long as you have a good heart, you'll always have a good home in my place..."

"You'll always be welcome at my place too. Although I don't think that Sonic would like it much."

::giggles:: "Just remember to keep your heart in the right place. My island has a very special way of keeping evil hearts from stepping foot upon its soil. If your heart is ever polluted, you might not cast sight upon the isle again."

"Maria…"

"Who is she? I've often stepped into your chamber to hear you call out to her in your slumber."

"She was a close friend of Shadow's back when he lived on ARK."

"She was my first friend. She taught me everything I know. And for awhile, I've only been living to carry out what I thought was her final wish…until now."

Both of his female companions froze in their place upon hearing that last sentence. Both were puzzled by their companion's last remark; Amy now wondering if Shadow had an ulterior motive for going along on this adventure, Sara a bit confused because she had a lack of knowledge of what Shadow spoke of.

Shadow turned around to face the both of them before trying to speak again. "Ever since I was released from my 50-year slumber, that horrible day back on A.R.K. rewinds and plays back in my mind. But of recent it's been different…"

"Maria?", exclaimed the puzzled hedgehog. He was now face to face with his late companion. "Is it really you?" He lifted a hand to touch the figure that stood before him, which in turn extended a hand out to meet it. She smiled as their warm hands met.

"I'm so glad that you remember me", said Maria. She bent down to give her perplexed friend a long awaited embrace. Shadow was then suddenly overtaken by a flow of emotions of which he had never felt before. Tears streamed down his eyes as he returned her embrace. He was so overwhelmed by joy and sorrow that his only words were bits and pieces of his two primary thoughts.

"Oh Maria…I missed you so much…I never wanted to leave you…I wish you didn't give your life for me…I wish I could have been more of the person you wanted me to be…I wish I could have saved you…I wish my anger hadn't blinded me from fulfilling your wish sooner…I…" She had covered his mouth to quiet him down. He gazed into her thoughtful, expressive eyes, knowing full well that he could understand her without expressing words. He could tell straight away that she was indeed very happy to be reunited with him, but she had something important to share with him.

"Sometimes you get a bit too carried away, Shadow-chan", Maria giggled. "I have no regrets of my own for saving you except that I wish that I could always be with you…but telling you that is part of the reason I'm here." 

He looked up to take a good look at their surroundings. Clear, blue sky, and what appeared to be white clouds upon which they stood. "Where are we, Maria?" he pondered out loud. "Is this that heaven place you once told me about?"

Maria smiled. "Well, this is the way I pictured heaven when I was still alive. Good souls each get to live out the rest of eternity in their version." Her happier expression soon turned into a grimace when she said, "But that might not be true for everyone soon…" She turned around to gaze at the azure atmosphere. "Something terrible will happen very soon to both life on earth and heaven. There's still a chance of hope for us…"

Shadow loathed the idea of watching his best friend having to suffer, and couldn't bear the thought of having her suffer even in death. A burning fury again arose within him, the same engulfing flame of light that had driven him to go through any means necessary to carry out her wish. "I don't care what dangers or obstacles await me, but I will do everything within my power to keep you and the world safe from this arising danger."

"With a strong will like that, I know you will be the one to succeed…" 

The smoke black hedgehog turned in the direction of the new voice, perplexed. He immediately got in front of Maria to shield her from any trouble that might come of it. "Who's there? Show yourself!" There was nothing he could do when a bright and blinding light caught him off guard. "MARIA!!!", he screamed out. He slowly began moving backwards to try and find the girl, but it proved futile. And that's when it all went dark…

…He awoke to find himself enveloped within complete darkness, unable to see. His arms and legs were unable to make any movement. It even proved difficult to speak. He was immobilized, completely at the mercy of his captor.

A warm breeze swept across his face when he suddenly sensed that someone or something was directly in front of him. A great sense of fear rushed throughout his body; the first time that he could ever being so afraid besides that terrible day upon the ARK.

As quickly as he had been rendered helpless, he was once again free within an instant. He opened his eyes to finally come face to face with what had held in him bondage. Nothing but a glowing pink sphere of light. Infuriated, he took a few swats at it, all the while missing with each swing.  Finally giving up on getting even, he started to walk away, but to his surprise, it followed along after him. 

It eventually got ahead of him and stopped directly in front, hindering movement in any direction. The sphere slowly began to glow brighter, so bright that Shadow was now using both his hands to protect his eyes from the brightness. Even though he was temporarily rendered blind, he could sense that the sphere was moving around him, increasing its movement and speed. Finally, it stopped. And when he removed his hands from his eyes, a beautiful, tan female echidna stood before him.

"Do not be afraid of what you see.", Tikal began slowly. Shadow was not the kind of hedgehog to scare easily, and after finding out that some "girl" was behind all of this, he felt it best to just turn around and ignore her. But she appeared directly in front of him again as he did so. 

"I'm sorry if I was a bit rough on you a while back", she said apologetically. "But it was the only way to calm you down. Maria wasted a bit too much time reminiscing with you rather than informing you on what you must do."

Shadow cocked a curious eyebrow at Tikal. "Must do?", he said tauntingly. "I have to do something…for you? I think not!"  He shoved the seemingly weak echidna over to one side to allow himself passage, only to find that she had gotten a tight grip on one of his arms as he passed by. 

"You have a lot to gain from this if you go through with it", growled Tikal, her grip on Shadow's hand getting tighter by the minute. The tan echidna finally released her powerful grip, catching the black hedgehog off guard and sending him with a crash to the ground.

"Serves you right", Tikal growled once more. She turned around, irritated with her listener's sheer rudeness. "I honestly don't know why Maria would waste a wish on you." Shadow jumped back onto his feet upon hearing his friend's name again. "Maria? Where is she? I promised her that I would do everything in my power to keep the world safe from an oncoming evil that she warned me about before you decided to take me out."

The insightful echidna turned again to face him once more. "Maria will be fine for the time being. If, and only if you continue to carry out your promise to her once more. Both heaven and earth will be surrounded by a great darkness if the life elements are not protected."

"Elements? What are you talking about?"

"These elements are what sustain life on earth. Air, water, fire, earth, light. These elements all work in conjunction with each other to keep a balance in creating and maintaining life. But if one or more elements are allowed to reach their full potential, chaos results. Think of fire and water. Any living being needs both to survive. But fire can destroy homes and lands, and a lack of respect for a body of water could result in a drowning."

"And how exactly am I supposed to carry out this task? Collect a small sample of each and watch it like that echidna who never lets that emerald out of sight?"

"I LIVE INSIDE THAT EMERALD! And no, that's not the way you're going to go about it. An ancient manuscript has been intertwined with modern technology to create a being that possesses 3 of the elemental powers. If it were nothing but a mere mindless drone, then you could have simply destroyed it. But…it has a mind of it's own…it thinks, breathes, senses pain. You have to protect it…so that it doesn't become a danger to itself or others."

"So I have to protect this possible threat?"

"Yes. It will only be a threat if it overtaken by the power of evil back on Earth. With the help and aid of Sara Rai, the both of you should be able to succeed."

"Sara? Is there something more to her that I have yet to know?"

"She is the last remaining priestess to Aozora Knife, the goddess from which the elemental forces are derived. 

"And what of Maria's wish?"

"You won't know until you've fulfilled her promise." Tikal sported an ear to ear grin as she stepped over towards the contemplating hedgehog. "And now," she started off, "It's time for you to go." She pushed him backwards, causing him to fall, not knowing when he would land…

"…and that's when I woke up.", finished Shadow. "I've been wondering what it is that I must protect, and I have somewhat of an idea of what it must be." "You do?", inquired Amy. She had taken lead of the group while Shadow explained his dream. "Please share with us. It'll give us a better chance of what we're up against."

"I don't know how to describe her except that I can understand how she feels…", he sighed. "Yearning to be free after being locked in for so long…it's as if she and I are one in the same…"  Amy cocked an eyebrow. "It's female?" Shadow nodded in reply. "I'm certain of that. Especially in which it calls out to me. It seems all it can say is 'Help me'. That and nothing more. But such a powerful message…I'm so drawn to it." He was interrupted when Sara accidentally brushed her staff into his back.

"Sorry", she said coyly. "I just find it rather funny that you irritated Tikal so quickly on a first meeting. She's usually very nice." 

"And I find it rather interesting that you're a priestess.", replied the smoke hedgehog. "The last of your kind…and the same one that I have to work with?"

"I've known full well that I am the last priestess of Aozora Knife. There were 5 priestesses: 4 for each element, and 1 whom was the chief priestess and was far superior over the others. But 3 of them were overtaken by greed and destroyed their own civilizations, while the other 2 died for noble causes. But that's a story that can wait. We have our work ahead of us."

"Agreed. Let's continue forward."


	15. Dr. Yasutmito's Final Entry

Project Aozora No Knife

Log Week #73: Final Development Entry

The day that I have long awaited has finally come. The day where joy will once again grace the world with its presence…the world of old will once again see the light of day. The marriage between old and new complete.

It is on this fateful day that all our hard work, time and effort will be rewarded. Aozora will finally step out into the world; her one mission in the world to do a service of good to the people of this planet. She will…

Dr. Yasutmito stopped typing his entry. His ears had detected another presence besides himself within the laboratory chambers. Without turning around, he said softly, "I know it's you, Yanai. The gold colored squirrel growled in dismay as it slowly walked over towards her superior.  When she was directly behind him, he continued: "Your conduct during these proceedings have been far from acceptable. You've endangered the lives of both the test subject and co-workers. Because of your horrific conduct on this project, I'm sorry to say that I'm going to have to let you go…your reckless mistakes almost cost me a lifetime of research and hard work…credibility…respec…ACKK!!!!"

She had had enough of his taunting sermon and began choking him; her small paws proving to be surprisingly strong and effective. He spun around in place to meet her with a barrage of fists and slaps, none of which seemed to have any effect on her whatsoever. He finally struggled his way free from her powerful grip, frantically gasping for air. "What's gotten into you?", he growled in between gasps.  The squirrel crouched over, holding him high above her head. They looked into the other's eyes for a brief second; one's filled with fear and confusion, the other, cruel and undisclosed intentions.

Yasutmito struggled to find the words that could express what was rushing through his mind. "You..could **never **be Yanai…the extensive hours I've spent on this project have prevented me from seeing that, but I see that now…she…" She was tightening her grip on his neck and he was struggling to get a minimum of breathing space. He continued: "she..i..should have never doubted her innocence…I…" He continues struggling for more air. The creature, who has proved itself not to be his once trusted colleague, throws him over upon some glass equipment. The now injured doctor, bleeding and struggling for air, struggles up to his feet to face his new-found enemy. It slowly walked towards the bewildered figure, slyly sporting a merciless grin along the way.

"Mr. Yasutmito finally finds an equation that he can't solve to save his scrawny neck", it taunted.  It moved one finger down to his collarbone. "A few mishaps here and there, and you automatically believe that it's your little squirrel girl here. Ever stop to think that you had something to do with it? Very messy miscalculation on your part. One which is going to cost you. Confusing me, Yakima, the supreme darkness, for you silly whore!" She pointed over towards the suspended animation chamber. 

"So many centuries have I battled against that thing you call your living miracle…and I was so close to ending our battle…my first and last victory were in my grasp…but you took that away…you took away my one chance at defeating it…you cost me the one thing I truly desired…and now.." She lowered the same finger down to his breastbone. "..now…YOU WILL PAY!!"  Without a second thought she thrust her whole paw into his chest, going straight through the center of his beating heart and exiting his back. The once small and taunting grin on her face had turned to one of pure enjoyment as she watched him cough up his own blood, staring ghastly at his impalement. 

Yoshimo struggled up on her hand to support himself, looking her dead in the eyes. "I don't know what you've done to Yanai, but I forgive her for this. And Aozora will never be defeated by the likes of you…her spirit will never be…" He rolled his eyes back as she sent her spare hand right through his neck. "..yours..", he gasped. Nothing more was heard of him. "Silly fool", coughed the dark soul as she examined the lifeless corpse. She threw him aside by the broken equipment. "My personal war against Aozora Knife will end no…"  She collapsed 

On the floor next to her victim.

Yanai awoke to find herself in the lab this time. At first, she couldn't remember how or why she there, but then her memory of that internal battle surfaced. Slowly standing up, she carefully scanned the area to see if anything was out of place when she felt something from behind. Looking down, she noticed the shattered glassware, and what appeared to be…blood. Taking another step back, her small feet brushed up against something else. It has first been some glass, but it felt like…she couldn't make it out exactly by just feeling it out...she had to take a look. She turned her frame around to view the gruesome scene. 

The doctor just lay there, his white lab coat completely soaked in the pool of blood that was escaping from his motionless body. Yanai had successfully found what was out of place. She looked down, and slowly began to back away when she noticed it: a small speck of blood on her lab coat. She found one more, then another one, forming a trail down her coat arm. She had finally realized that both her hands were covered in bright red blood…**his blood**…

…and it is at that very moment that the soul of Yanai Mashuti was locked away within the confinement of her own heart…after seeing that last horrific scene, she was no longer strong enough to fight the advances of the demon that lay within her body.

Some workers rushed in to see what the commotion had been. They saw the doctor's lifeless body on the floor, Yanai beside him, crying franticly. "I tried to stop him…but I was too late…he…killed himself…" She pointed to the piece of glass that was in his limp hand. "He slit his throat and straight down his chest…I wish I could have…" She threw herself over his dead body, sobbing into it. One of the workers bent down and examined the doctor's wounds. Straight, but deep incisions on his throat and chest that went out to the dorsal side. 

Yanai looked up at him with tear filled eyes. "I tried to stop him, but as soon as I got close, he drove the glass deeper into himself…by the time I got close enough, he was like this…"  She looked away into space. "I should have called somebody for help…but…I panicked…I just panicked like there was no tomorrow…"

The worker got up and spoke with his partner, who had stood in the same place the whole time. "We better let the board know that Dr. Yasutmito has passed. For the sake of this project, we might as well say he pray to a viral illness." He looked over at Yanai, who was still crying for dear life. He said softly, "Don't worry miss. We'll see to it that he's given a decent and respectable burial."  As the both of them left, Yanai slowly rose to her feet. She wiped her tears dry with the part of her lab coat that hadn't been washed in the doctor's blood. Walking over to a nearby mirror, she looked into it to see a smiling face. **"Award winning performance if I don't say so myself…"**


	16. The Need to Fight Arises

Shadow and the others finally reached a dead end within the darkened tunnel. Moving up front, he asked both of his companions to softly bang against the walls, looking for a hollowness that might become their entrance. "I hope we don't fall in on some more of those G.U.N beetles", sighed Amy as she pounded away with her Piko Piko Hammer. She soon found the vulnerable area that they were looking for. "I think I've found it", she said triumphantly. The dark hedgehog moved in front of her and borrowed her hammer, sending swift and powerful drives into the soon-to-be entrance. With one last powerful drive, he forced the tin wall out of its place and let it fall down below.

Jumping down first to make sure it was safe, Shadow quickly checked his new surroundings before signaling to both Amy and Sara to join him. As soon as all three were together, they slowly began to take notice of their grim surroundings. Blood splattered everywhere. Amy let out a small scream, and Sara almost went into shock upon seeing such an atrocity. All the while, Shadow was shaking his head in dismay. "This is the way these humans treat each other…" , he said solemnly.   

He noticed more blood further away, which looked like a puddle that seemed to be getting larger by the second. He slowly glided over to take a closer look, and when he reached his intended destination, he was appalled by what he saw. A dead man's corpse, with two large puncture wounds through his chest and neck. For the first time since Maria's death, he was scared shitless. Turning around, he tried to divert the other's attention from what he had seen, but it was too late. Both girls were already looking at the horrific sight, sharing the same ghastly expression of horror on their faces. 

"And I see that this is what happens when they don't agree with one another.." he finished. He glided over to comfort Amy, who was having a hard time keeping it together after seeing that. Sara, on the other hand, moved in closer to the slain figure, and eventually knelt down beside it. "What are you doing?", screamed Shadow. Sara ignored him and simply continued to look at the body. After a few minutes she finally got back on her feet. "I'm going to give this person a honorable burial.", she sighed. "Can't you see? This was foul play...no one simply dies like this." She proceeded to close her eyes and fold her hands as if she were about to pray, concentrating all her being into the deceased. The body slowly began to lift itself off the ground, eventually floating before her. She slowly opened her eyes and watched as the body began to take the form of a white sphere of light. "The light has been restored…now you may return to the source." All three animals watched on as the sphere slowly ascended through the ceiling and out of sight.

"What did you do?", asked Amy, a bit more frantic than before. "I think you just killed him even more!" Sara shook her head and frowned. "No", she replied. "I simply gave him an honorable burial. I guess in your culture you believe in burying the dead in the ground. In my culture, we revert the body and soul back into its original form…a sphere of light. Depending on how well you've lived your life, the sphere will either rise into the sky or ascend down below. But in both our cultures regardless, all souls will eventually find their rightful place." Shadow jumped into the conversation. "Now that that's been taken care of, can we continue?", he asked impatiently.

Both girls nodded in reply. They once again resumed their careful study of their surroundings, which appeared to be a laboratory of some sort. Quickly, but quietly, they began to search every inch of the laboratory until Amy found some computer files. Booting up the computer nearby, she found a host of entries regarding the growth and development of Project Aozora No Knife. "I think she's definitely in here", she concluded after seeing the first few entries. "Let's keep looking." Soon afterwards, they eventually came across a glass capsule that appeared to have something inside of it. Both Sara and Shadow could sense an immense amount of energy that it was emitting. "This has to be it", said Sara as a matter-of-factly. Shadow positioned himself in front of the capsule and prepared to execute a Spin Attack into the glass casing when Amy suddenly cried out, "Shadow, don't!"

He and Sara turned around just in time to see their companion in the clutches of a blood-drenched squirrel. The pink hedgehog was putting up a struggle for air, since her captor had placed her in a one-handed chokehold. "Either back away from that **thing**", it started, "or watch your cute little friend suffer the same fate as my professor colleague." Amy frantically shook her head, pleading, "Don't listen to her! Just don't listen to her!" She began kicking back at her captor while the other two animals slowly moved away from the capsule, both taking their respected fighting stances. 

"Okay, we're within a reasonable distance from the capsule", said Shadow. "Now let her go!"  The demented squirrel straightened up a bit and flashed a twisted smile in his direction. "Fools..", she said in a low tone. She raised poor Amy high above her head and was prepared to finish her off with a puncture wound through the throat. Her claws were deeply entrenched within the sakura-colored hedgehog's fur and would have further made their mark when what felt like a bolt of lightning struck her from behind. She lost her grip on her victim as she fell to the ground, dumbfounded. Amy scrambled over to Shadow with her Piko Piko Hammer, clutching the one or two puncture wounds that her attacker had managed to make in her neck. 

She noticed the shocked expression on Shadow's face and looked in the direction of what had saved her. A cerulean hedgehog stood on top of the unconscious figure victoriously.  Alongside him stood a two-tailed fox, a snowy bat, and a crimson echidna, all in fighting stances. Sonic and Shadow were now standing face to face.

"I see we meet again blue hedgehog", smiled Shadow. He extended a hand out to Sonic for saving Amy. He slapped it away. "I should have known that someone like you would be up to his old tricks again…", he began slowly. "Can't destroy the world yourself so you need another military project to help you get the job done."  Shadow gave him a pissed off, "What the hell are you talking about?" look. Amy jumped in between the two of them. "Cut it out Sonic!", she screamed. "Shadow's here to save that thing from destruction. That thing that you just knocked out was trying to…SONIC!!!!!!!" She didn't finish when she noticed that it was getting up once more, nearly sending the blue wonder crashing down on the floor. Sonic leapt back and landed on his feet in a poised fighting stance. "I see this thing wants to go for Round Two." He chuckled.

It began to get back up and rushed straight past Shadow and Amy until it was directly in front of the capsule. "I end this once and for all!", she screamed loudly while forming a surge of flowing energy in her hands. She began to lift it above her head, and was fully prepared to send it crashing down upon the unsuspecting creature inside when Sara delivered a hard blow to its back with her Kendo staff.  The dark demon turned around to face her assailant. "I see that the last priestess finally decides to show her face…", it started off. "Might as well kill two birds with one stone…"  It took notice of the staff that Sara proudly held in her hands. "If you're a being of honor, you wouldn't fight an opponent who's unarmed…" 

Sara rolled her eyes as she complied with her opponent's request. "As you wish", she mumbled. "But I don't need any weapon to kick your sorry ass…" The squirrel immediately lunged forward at her, taking advantage of the few seconds that she was off guard. Sara managed to catch on in time and executed a backwards spiral flip out of range. But it still followed closely behind. For the next few seconds, both threw a barrage of kicks and punches at each other before disengaging, resting briefly, and continuing their battle. 

Meanwhile, Sonic had lost interest in fighting what Sara was now up against and started going at it with Shadow. Actually, it really wasn't much of a battle; Shadow stood in place undaunted while he watched his rival throw and land direct kicks and punches that felt like air. Sweat drops appeared on everyone's forehead as they watched the blue crusader make a complete ass out of himself. After a minute or so of Sonic's "fight", he had had enough and landed a punch and a roundhouse kick that rendered him unconscious. The victorious hedgehog turned to the rest of the group. "Just leave him there for the time being", he started off. "It looks like he needs some time to think…and from what you saw before, I take it that you're convinced that I'm **not** the bad one here." All nodded in reply as he continued, "Amy, you and fox boy try to get that capsule opened. Rouge, you'll help them carry whatever is in that capsule. And echidna…you and I will go and help out Sara over there. Disengage!" 

It seemed that Sara was gaining the upper hand in her match against the demon. Soon, however, her strategy was getting messy. And it were the mistakes that she made in which the demon counted on taking advantage of. It managed to land a powerful suicide kick into the hedgehog's abdomen, sending her riling back into some of the scattered laboratory equipment. Having lost her bearings, all the tan hedgehog could do now was dodge…there was absolutely no point in throwing a punch or kick if she couldn't predict/know where it would land. She was just about to be hit from behind when both Shadow and Knuckles jumped into help. The crimson guardian handed her the discarded Kendo staff. "Don't ever take a baddie by their word.", he said knowingly. She joined the both of them welding her coveted staff. "Point well taken…"

On the other side of the wrecked lab, Tails was working hard to crack the encryption code for the capsule. Both females watched on warily until Rouge finally said, "It's going to take you forever to crack the code. Let a secret agent show you how it's done." She pushed the fox aside and entered a 3-digit code, which succeeded in opening the capsule door a bit. Very carefully, she positioned herself in such a way that she could see the tip of the opening and gave it a powerful kick, letting the capsule lid fly straight off. "See?", she said happily. "My way was much easier!" All three gathered around the capsule to take their first look at the being that lay within. A lovely female cat with bright lime green hair. "We better be careful how we lift and take her out", warned Amy. "I don't think I want to wake her up just yet." The others nodded as they gingerly began to take her out of the chamber. As soon as they had positioned her in a way that wouldn't cause her to wake up, Rouge signaled to Knuckles, "We've got her! Let's get out of here!"

"In a minute!", he yelled back at her. He, Shadow and Sara had their hands full dealing with the possessed squirrel. She was still going after Sara, but that mistake gave both animals enough time to sneak up behind her and surprise attack. Shadow performed his signature roundhouse kick into the back of her head, which spun her around in time to meet one of Knuckles gigantic fists. The force from both hits was finally enough to overwhelm the squrrel's fragile body, and they watched as the bruised figure finally collapsed to the ground, this time not getting up. 

Knuckles ran over to the group to help them carry out the girl while Sara and Shadow ran in the direction that he had knocked out Sonic. Both placed one of the blue speedster's shoulders over one of theirs and proceeded in carrying him out behind the others. That is, until some G.U.N. beetles appeared out of no where and surrounded him. 

They were all cornered in, and Shadow was having a hard time trying to use Chaos Control considering the amount of energy he had used up fighting that demon a few moments back. It seemed like their mission had been in vain when a bright white light blinded all of them….when they all came to, they found themselves within the walls of Sara's grand cottage.

Amy ran over to Shadow and hugged him tight. "I thought we were goners for a moment", she said cheerfully. "If it weren't for your Chaos Control we might have…" She stopped when she noticed the confused look on his face. "It wasn't me..", he said softly. "And it couldn't have been Sonic since he's knocked out cold…but..how?…who?.." He noticed Sara smiling in a corner. "I didn't know that Chaos Control is what you call it.", she said sheepishly. "But I've been doing it for as long as I can remember."


	17. This Adventure is Only Beginning...

Yanai came to once more to find herself still inside the lab. She ran over and copied a disk from the computer's hard drive before running outside of the base. She continued to run until it felt as if she had lifted herself off the ground. And when she was a considerable distance away in the air from the charred remains of Prison Island, she created and delivered a energy blast that finally destroyed the whole entire island. As she sped off into the sunset, she repeated this same phrase within her mind: "Aozora may have eluded me this time…but I will be the victor in this war…she and that priestess, along with her friends will all be casualties in this war…"

Meanwhile, on Flora Island…

Sara was tending to the wounds that everyone had sustained during their battle. No one was really badly injured except for Amy, who had fainted a few minutes after she had teleported everyone to the island. The two shallow puncture wounds that the demon had made had slowly taken their toll on the pink hedgehog's energy. Now that they were all safe, Sara had bandaged up her neck and placed her down to rest in a private room. Sara had advised everyone not to bother her and leave her to rest, but a certain blue hedgehog couldn't resist an opportunity to speak his mind…

"Amy?", whispered Sonic, who had tiptoed in as quietly as he could.

Amy turned around in bed to look at him. She wasn't in the mood to hear anyone, especially Sonic, talk to her. "Go away..", she moaned. He continued to move in closer until he was kneeling by her bedside. "I'm not going to go away", he said angrily. "You ran off and didn't tell me that you knew where Shadow was!" Amy tried to turn away, but he pulled her back in place. "You purposely didn't tell me where he was! That's not like you! How could…" She got up and gave him a good slap in the face. 

"Look at you", she said weakly. "Crying over the fact that you couldn't be the first to do something. I didn't tell you because I'm always the last person you ask for help. And quiet frankly, Mr. Sonic T. Hedgehog, I'm sick of it…I probably never registered as anything more than a hidden asset to you. Right? When all else fails, you come to me? Is that it? Keep trying to make me feel bad…because I'm not." Within the minute, Sara angrily walked in and pulled Sonic out. "I told you to stay out of here! Upsetting her is just going to make her recovery slower." She closed the door behind her. And neither of them noticed Amy put her head back down and silently weep. "Stupid hedgehog", she thought.

Everyone else except for Shadow and the cat were waiting outside of the room. Seeing as everyone was bound to stay for the night, Sara decided to show them to their rooms. "This will be your room, Sonic and Tails", as she pointed to a door on her left, "and this will be your room Rouge, and.." Rouge had tapped her shoulder. She took a quick glance over at Knuckles before saying, "If it isn't too much trouble, could I share a room with Knuckles?" Sara couldn't argue with that since she could see that she would need the space. "Fine, as you wish.", she said solemnly. At the end of the corridor, she turned to all of them and said softly: "You are all welcome to go into any rooms you wish unless I say otherwise. The only rooms you can't go into are my bedroom and this room." She pointed to the room behind her. "This room is strictly off limits to all of you." With that, she went about her evening business.

They all watched her leave before they turned their attention to Sonic. A sweat drop of nervousness was rapidly forming on his blue forehead. "Why's everyone staring at me?", he asked curiously.

Tails: For the world's greatest hero, you can come off as a jerk.

Sonic: Wha?

Rouge: You heard him. Why'd you have to go in and upset Amy like that? She's been through enough today as it is!

Knuckles: And let's not forget what happened with Shadow awhile back. What's gotten into you? 

Sonic: I dunno. I guess I overacted and…

All: DAMN STRAIGHT YOU OVER REACTED! 

Rouge: You better apologize to Amy when she has the strength to put up with your B.S. If you don't, you'll have to deal with me.

Elsewhere in the cottage…

Shadow had taken a bedside vigil by the sleeping cat. He didn't take notice of her until they had been teleported back to the cottage. Her appearance took his breath away; she reminded him of Maria so much that he could have sworn that she was the breathing specimen herself. He had drifted off to sleep, all his memories of Maria rapidly flowing through his mind….Maria running….Maria singing…Maria laughing…Maria crying…Maria falling down because of her weak legs…Maria dying…Maria dying…

He woke up to find that he could see himself within the room, watching the now empty bed. He looked outside to see the sun shining brightly…the warm summer air splashing against his face, the trees and plants of the island in full bloom. But the inhabitants were not the same. Moving in closer, he saw that several beetle robots, if not the ones they had fought today, had surrounded Sara. He could see that she was cradling and protecting something wrapped in a bundle of blankets away from them. He watched on as she swatted them away, trying to escape with whatever was in her arms…he could hear it crying…

 "It must be a baby", he thought. He watched on as she continued her defense, but it proved futile as they slowly began to overcome her advances. She was about to be overtaken when a dark figure jumped in front of her and the child. She slowly got up to her feet as the figure turned to face her, saying something that made her face cringe and frown. Tears flowed down her eyes as she yelled something back at it, before finally breaking down and falling to her knees once more. After a few motionless seconds, she lifted the child up to be taken by the dark figure…and as it was about to leave with the beetles, she handed it something…which he couldn't make out…saying, "Give these to him to let him know that he has a mother who loves him…."

Shadow woke up in a cold sweat. When he had thought that having that reoccurring vision of Maria's death was bad, this was probably 10x worse. He looked around to see that the bed was empty, and was about to run out and call the others when he noticed something from outside the room's window. Taking a closer look, he noticed that the cat was outside, standing in the spring nearby. 

She turned around to face him for the first time. "You were the one who did this?", she said while pointing to the broken full moon. Shadow slowly nodded in reply. He watched as she did a swanlike dance on the water's surface, noticing that the moon's reflection had changed in appearance due to the ripples and waves she was making. When the water resettled, he noticed that the reflection of the moon had become complete. That also proved to be true when he looked up to see that the moon he had hurt was now restored to its full glory.

He jumped out of the window and walked over to meet her. "I'm not too proud of what I did now that I think of it", he admitted. "But I'm trying to make up for that. They call me Shadow. I wonder what they call you."  The cat slowly stepped out of the water and onto dry ground to face him. "From outside my chamber, one called me Aozora.", she replied softly. "He had great hopes for me…" A tear escaped from one of her piercing blue eyes. "I wish I was outside….I could have saved him…the thing you went up against wanted to destroy me…but for some reason…I know I can't let that happen…" Shadow placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "I understand how you feel…but I've learnt that there are some things that you can't stop…but you should do what you can to help either way…" The both of them stood there for most of the night, admiring the now complete and full moon in the starry night sky.

Shadow's thoughts drifted off to that vision of Sara again. Why was she in it? Why was she running away? Who were that child and dark figure? So many new questions floating around in his head…but it was too late into the night. They could all wait for another day…


End file.
